The Life I Wish I Had
by ShadowPalace
Summary: Meet the Jackson's: two parents, three kids, and some crazy relatives. Despite this, Carla - Hannah Jackson's best friend, wishes that she could be a part of the family too. Even though she's with them so much it's like she is. Future fic. Three-shot.
1. Part 1

**A/N: I do realize that the beginning of this (or even the entire story, perhaps) comes off a bit OC centric, but that really isn't the point. It's more a story about what a normal girl thinks of the Jackson's as her life goes on and what she discovers by being so closely involved with them. **

**This does, by the way, take place in the future when all of the characters are , this will be split into three parts due to the fact that they're each epically long.**

**Please enjoy! **

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* * *

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I've known the Jackson family for most of my life – I can honestly say that meeting that family not only changed me and my life forever, but it was also the best thing that ever happened to me.

* * *

_July 15__th__, 5 years old. _

I vividly remember the first day I met the Jackson's.

I was carrying a brown, cardboard box full of possessions over to the elevator. There I would embark on my first ride up to my new apartment.

You could say that I wasn't all too excited about the move. And even though we were only moving from the east side of New York City to the west, it felt like we couldn't be moving any further away. Central Park was a large, green wall separating my old life from my new one – one I wished that I didn't have to live.

I got inside the elevator and its doors shut almost immediately, leaving me alone inside of it. It took me up about five floors before it stopped, and the doors opened once again.

Right outside them, a man stood. He didn't look frightening in the slightest, but out of instinct I scrunched myself into the back left corner of the elevator car.

He looked up at the sign on the elevator, and noticed that it was going up, "I guess I'll just go for the ride," he muttered to himself, and then stepped inside and stood on the other far end of the elevator.

When we were passing somewhere in between floor seven and eight, the unthinkable happened. My bottom of my box opened and the contents of it began to spill out onto the floor.

First, I just stood there. Completely in shock, I watched as my old alarm clock, my case of CD's, and a few other items from my old room hit the floor with a large thud.

I was still standing absolutely still, holding my empty box, when the man in the elevator began to talk to me. "Here," he said, "Let me see this." He took the box out of my tiny hands, and began to toy around with it, in attempt to try and fix it.

He eventually succeeded, and began to pick up items on the floor. I joined in immediately, trying to get all my stuff back in the box before the elevator arrived at my floor.

Sadly, my goal was not met, and when the elevator arrived on floor seventeen, I still had a few things scattered around the elevator floor.

My parents, who had been waiting for the elevator to arrive so they could go back down and get more boxes, noticed me instantly.

"Carla?" My dad asked, "What happened?"

"The box broke," I said, on the verge of tears. It was too much for me to take in one day.

"Aw, sweetie," my mom said, hurrying to floor to help me and the stranger with the stuff, "It's okay."

In a matter of minutes, the three of us managed to get everything back into the dead box.

I got to my feet and said, "Thank you," before running off into the apartment without turning around once.

I could still hear my mom and the man talking from inside the safe walls of my apartment, thanks to the open apartment door.

"I'm sorry about my daughter," my mom said, sighing. "She's been a bit apprehensive about the move."

"That's okay, I'm sure it's a big change for her," he said. "My name's Percy, Percy Jackson. Did you and your family just move into the building?"

"Yes," she said, "It's nice to meet you Percy." I looked to the hallway and saw her shaking hands with him. "I'm Jenny Hart, and my husband, Robert, is inside. And my daughter, who you met, is Carla."

"I'm sure my wife would agree with me in inviting you and your family over for dinner," Percy said.

"That would be lovely, if it's not too much trouble for you," my mom said, politely.

"Not in the slightest," he said, "Is tomorrow evening alright?"

"Sounds great," my mom said.

"How old is your daughter?" he asked, "I actually have three children of my own…"

"She's five," my mom replied.

"That's great! I have a five year-old daughter too, named Hannah. There's no one in the building who's her age, and she's always looking for someone to play with."

"That's wonderful," my mom said, "I'm sure Carla will be excited to meet her."

"Well, I leave you to your business," he said, "If you would like help moving in or have any questions, here's my number." He handed her a business card.

"Thank you so much," my mom said, handing him her own personal business card.

A minute later, my mom was inside the apartment and was approaching me at full speed. "Did you hear that, Carla?" she asked, patting me on the shoulder. "That man has a five year old daughter too for you to become friends with!"

I gave the best smile I could. I'd never been good at making friends, so maybe this setup wouldn't be _that_ bad.

* * *

_July 16__th__, 5 Years Old_

I stood right behind my parents as the large, green door swung open, revealing an apartment quite similar in size and shape to ours. It was the people inside who were different.

My family in general is quite calm, relaxed, and peaceful. This family, on the other hand, seemed like the exact opposite. Through the small space between my parents, I was able to see absolute chaos.

The first thing that caught my eye was the girl clutching on to what I assumed was her brother's back. There was a little toddler who was just running around in circles around their living room.

"I'm sorry about the mess," the wife said. "I'm afraid some of them ate a little too much sugar today." I assumed that she was referring to the girl who was on her brother's back two seconds ago, and had moved on to doing cartwheels.

"Hannah!" Percy screamed, "Stop! We have guests over."

"But Papa-"

"No," he said, sternly, "Hannah, calm down, _please_."

"Fine," she said in defeat, and walked over to where we were standing.

"You must be Hannah," my mom said.

"Yes," Hannah said, providing a toothy grin.

"We have a five year old daughter, Carla," my dad said, grabbing my hand and pulling me out from behind them. "Carla, meet Hannah."

"Hi," Hannah said, "Want to come with me to my room?" I recoiled behind my mother's leg, unused to such enthusiasm. Most of my friends were calm and quiet, like me. A nudge from my mother got me going, though.

"Sure," I said as quietly as possible. She still heard me, and grabbed my arm, beginning to pull me across her apartment.

"You just moved here, right?" she asked, dragging me past the kitchen.

"Yeah," I said, "We used to live on the West Side, but then we moved so we could be closer to Daddy's business."

Her mouth formed an 'o' shape, and then we walked in silence, until we approached the toddler who I had seen before.

"This is Zoe," she said, pointing to the little girl. "She doesn't understand much since she's two, but it's a lot of fun to feed her goldfish crackers. She _loves_ them."

Zoe stared at me for a few seconds, studying me with stormy gray eyes, until she spoke in a soft, gentle voice. "Goldfish?"

"Later, Zo," Hannah said, tightening her grip on me and giving me a hearty yank forward.

We eventually reached a door in the back of the apartment; it had a sign on the door that read, "CHASE AND HANNAH'S ROOM".

"This," she said, pausing to open the door, "Is my room." The room was practically split in two. One half was filled with blue things in every corner, while the second half was filed with lighter colors like yellow and peach colors. The blue half was filled with cars and other toys, while the other side had books all over the place.

On the bed in the blue half, sat the boy who I saw earlier. He looked at me with a questioning look, like he was trying to figure me out. He had curly black hair and the same gray eyes as the little sister – they must run in the family or something.

"And this," Hannah said, letting out a very large, exasperated sigh, "Is my annoying older brother, Chase. He's stupid, ignore him."

"Hi," Chase said, jumping off his bed. "Are you Carla?"

"Yeah," I said quietly, nodding.

"Go away, Chase!" Hannah said, giving Chase a large shove towards the door. "It's time for you to leave us alone."

"I wouldn't want to hang out with you _girls_, anyway," he said, and walked out the door.

"Sorry about him," Hannah said, sitting down on her bed. "But didn't I say he's annoying?"

"Well…" I started to say, but I was cut off.

"Do you like to read?" she asked, twirling some of her blonde hair around her finger.

"Uh, yeah," I said, fudging it a little. I liked to read, but I hadn't read many things.

"So do I," she said, looking down at the piles of books on the floor, "It's my favorite thing to do when I'm bored."

We then sat in silence for a few minutes, just staring at each other – trying to figure the other one out..

Chase walked in a few minutes later, a blank expression on his face.

"What did I tell you about getting out?" Hannah screamed, stomping over towards him.

"I'm just here to tell you that it's time for dinner," he said, before turning around and walking back towards the living room.

"Let's go." Hannah said, grabbing me by the wrist once again and leading me off.

***

At dinner I found out a few things about the Jacksons. The parents had met at a camp when they were little, and had eventually become great enough friends to get married.

I turned out Chase was actually their mom's maiden name, and that the deal between the parents was that she'd give up her old last name if their first son would be named Chase. And now there is Chase.

I also found out that the school that I was going to be attending this year was also the same school that Hannah and Chase went to, and that we'd all be on the same bus together.

Another fact that I found out was that one of the gigantic buildings that my parents were always admiring was actually designed by the firm that the mother worked at, and that she was one of the leaders of the team.

After dinner, I played video games with Chase and Hannah (who, by the way, continued to get into arguments with one another) until we had to go.

"Bye," Hannah said, when we were standing by the door.

"Bye," I returned, "See you soon, I guess."

"Yeah!" she exclaimed. A large smile arrived on her face, along with a twinkle in her bright green eyes.

"So, what did you think?" my dad asked me, once we were safely inside.

"Loud." I replied, and my parents just chuckled.

* * *

_June 22__nd__, 7 Years Old_

Hannah and I were having a play-date at her house, when her mom arrived home from work early.

"Hi girls," she said, putting her purse down on the table. "What are you doing?"

"Being bored," I replied. The two of us were sitting like lumps on our coach. For a while we were brainstorming ideas on what to do, but after not being able to agree we just gave up and sat there.

"Well, we're going to have to fix that," her mom said, coming over to me and giving me and Hannah each a little pat on the shoulder, "It's so hot out today… Oh, how about we go to pool?"

"Where is there a pool?" Hannah asked, looking back and forth between her mom and I.

"At the heath club a few blocks over they have a great pool for you guys to swim in. How about it?" her mom asked.

I considered my options. I wasn't really in the mood to go swimming, but this was a once in a lifetime offer. Her mom rarely offered to take us anywhere (since she was always working), and my mom didn't take me swimming, either.

"I'm not sure…" I answered.

"C'mon, Cars," Hannah said, giving my arms a shake, "Let's go! It'll be fun."

"Fine, I guess." I said, "I haven't gone swimming in forever."

"Neither have I," Hannah said, nodding.

I ran up to my apartment, changed into my suit, and ran back downstairs to find Hannah and her mom all packed and ready to go.

The second we arrived at the pool, Hannah jumped right in and began swimming back and forth like she'd been swimming her entire life.

"Cars – come in! There water's warm!" Hannah yelled, swimming over to where I was standing. I glanced back at her mom, who was sitting in a beach chair – blackberry glued to her hand.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I said, sliding on my butt into the freezing cold water. "What are you talking about, Han, the water's like ice!"

"You're always cold," Hannah said, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the wall. Suddenly, the second she touched me, I felt heat course through my body. And then the second she let go of it, the warmth disappeared completely and I was left shivering in ice water.

After swimming around the pool for a while (which did include Hannah needing to challenge every boy in the pool to a race – which she always won by a lot), Hannah decided to try another game out.

"Let's have a breathing underwater contest." Hannah said.

"That's where you have to hold your breath for as long as you can, right?" One of the boys, named Roy – I believe, asked.

"Exactly," Hannah said, a devilish smile on her face.

"Ooh, I think I'm good at this!" I said, recalling being told that I was good at breathing by a swim instructor years ago. I'm not very good at swimming fast, so I decided _not _to swim in the races against Hannah and the various boys.

"Great," Hannah said, giving me a warm pat (still, even though I got used to the water, whenever she touched me I felt warm inside), "On the count of three, we all go under. Got it?" All of the boys and me nodded, "Okay. One, two, three… under!"

We all shot under the water. Suddenly, the sounds of the noisy pool area went silent, and I found complete peace.

I looked around at the different kids. Two of the boys looked like they were gasping for air – and two seconds later they went up.

The last boy seemed to loosing air, but much slower than his friends. After five or so more seconds, he bobbed to the top. Leaving Hannah and I underwater.

Hannah, unlike everyone else, looked completely calm. She even looked like she was breathing or something – her chest continued to rise and fall. She was lying down towards the bottom of the pool, and she seemed absolutely fine.

I wanted to win so badly. Hannah always seemed to win at _everything_. At school she got better grades. In gym she was always picked first for teams. And to top it all off, it seemed like she not only won everything, but she also got everything as well.

I got so distracted in my thoughts, hat I forgot about holding my breath, and I ended up taking a huge gulp of water. I began to choke, and sink towards the bottom of the pool quickly.

As my chest continued to tighten, I was sure that this was going to be the end of me. I was going to drown in the public pool – it'd be all over the _New York Times_. GIRL DROWNS IN PUBLIC POOL DURING A BREATHING CONTEST would be the headline, and that's how I'd get my fame, for my epic death.

Suddenly, I felt a hand latch onto mine. I suddenly felt like I could breathe – I wasn't quite sure how, seeing as I was still underneath the water. I looked up, and saw Hannah dragging me up to the surface. Her face was looking up towards the surface of the pool, until she looked at me for a second and her expression told me all I needed to hear, it read, "You'll be okay. I'll make sure of it." That's Hannah, always out to save everyone.

Soon enough, we reached the surface on the pool. Hannah's mom lifted me out of the pool and lay me down on the pool deck. I immediately began to sputter and throw up water. Hannah was right next to me, looking at me carefully.

"Cars?" she asked, "You okay?"

I couldn't reply. I was too stunned and in awe of Hannah's amazing save to say anything. So, instead I did what I could get out – I began to cry. Big, heavy, tears poured out of my eyes.

We left right afterwards and, as Hannah promised me under the water, I was okay in the end.

As usual, Hannah received the spotlight. She got a medal of sorts from the lifeguards for saving me. She also received a million 'thank you's' from various different people. It's not like I was ignored or anything, though. I had people surrounding me, asking if I was okay. But no, I wanted what Hannah had: the glory.

* * *

_March 8th, Age 8_

My first sleepover in my entire life took place at the Jackson's house. I came over to their house, sleeping bag in hand, prepared for everything. I'd seen the movies with sleepovers, but I'd never had my try at one. I was nervous and excited all at once.

"So," Hannah said, leading me towards her room, "You're going to sleep in Chase's bed."

"Then where's Chase going to sleep?" I asked. As we'd been getting older, I'd had less and less to do with Chase. It's not like we were every really hanging out or anything like that (besides, Hannah would never, ever allow it – the two hated each other), but he just seemed to be around less.

"On the couch," she said.

"Does Chase know yet?" I asked, nervous about what the answer was going to be.

"Nope," she said, confirming my fear, "We're going to tell him right now."

"He's not going to like it," I warned as we pushed open the door, exposing her room. Chase was in fact inside, sitting on his bed playing his Nintendo DS.

"That's the best part," she said, an evil grin on her face.

"What is?" Chase asked, looking up from his game of what looked like Mario Kart.

"That we're kicking you out of your room tonight." Hannah said, her tone sounded so relaxed like it was no big deal."

"And in 'we' she means 'I'. I had no say in this at all," I said, dropping my heavy load onto the floor.

"What?" Chase said, snapping his DS shut.

"You heard me," Hannah said, grabbing Chase's DS, "Grab your stuff and get out. Cars' going to sleep in your bed tonight."

"Why?" Chase demanded, "Why doesn't she sleep in _your _bed with _you. _You two could easily fit."

"We could," Hannah said, looking down at her hands, "But it'd be more comfortable if she could have your bed. Plus, do you really want to have to hang out with us girls while we stay up late till 11?"

"I would rather that then sleep on the couch where I can hear dad snoring all night."

"Too bad," Hannah argued, "It's one night. Deal."

"Mom!" Chase screamed, opening the door wide.

"Papa!" Hannah called, and within a minute, both of the parents were standing in the door. I could see Zoe from behind the parents, trying to see what was going on inside.

I slowly inched towards Hannah's bed where I sat down to enjoy the show.

"Mom," Chase began, pointing his index finger at Hannah, "Hannah's kicking me out of my room."

"Papa! Chase's being mean to our guest!" Hannah argued, throwing her own finger out at Chase.

"Relax," Percy said, stepping in between the siblings, "What exactly is going on here?"

"_Well,_" Hannah began, taking in a large gulp of air, "To make sure that Carla is really comfortable tonight, I promised her that she could sleep in Chase's bed tonight. And when I told _him_ this, he freaked out."

"_She_ kicked me out without asking!" Chase argued.

"Chase, just think about it," Annabeth said, trying to rationalize with her hysterical son. "You can watch TV as late as you want tonight if you sleep on the couch in the living room."

He tipped his head to the side, as if contemplating if his mother was just tricking him into it, or if it was actually a good option.

After what felt like ages, he muttered, "Fine." He grabbed a few of his items (such as all of his pillows and blankets - thus leaving me with none) and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Hannah, I understand your point and everything," Annabeth said, putting her arm around her daughter's shoulders, "But could you try to not to taunt him? It only starts disagreements."

"But-" Hannah began, only to be cut off.

"Promise us, please." Percy asked, his expression completely serious, contrary to his usual goofy grin.

I didn't want to say anything but I, too, agreed with her parents. While their fighting was hilarious most of the time, but whenever it was about me or involved me it wasn't as funny. This time, for example, fit into this category perfectly.

"Fine," Hannah agreed, "But it won't work. He _hates _me."

"Your brother does not hate you." Annabeth said, "You two just disagree."

"Besides," Zoe said, talking for the first time. She was by far the quietest of the family and while she never was really with us, she was always around. "I will always love you, no matter what Chase thinks."

"You know I love you too, Zo, right?" Hannah asked, approaching her sister and giving her a large bear hug.

"Uh huh." Zoe said, grinning. Hannah's parents joined in the hug shortly, thus making it an almost complete family moment. I began to feel more awkward than ever, and it wasn't only because of the part of me that wanted to join the hug and become a member of the family I'd been envying for years. Even though Chase didn't know what was going on, I felt a sort of compassion for him. Being on the outside of the circle hurt - especially when you're supposed to be part of it.

After playing in Hannah's room for a few hours and eating dinner, we retreated to her parent's bedroom to watch a movie (Chase was still occupying the TV in the living room). After twenty minutes of indecision, we finally agreed to watch _Father of the Bride_.

"That was funny," I said once the movie began to roll credits.

"Yeah," Hannah replied, seeming a bit lost. "It was."

"I think that there's a sequel," I said.

"Really?" Hannah asked, "We should watch it next time you sleep over."

"Definitely."

We sat in silence for a few minutes and I began to stare at the ceiling. It was a plain wall that was painted light blue and only had a few cracks in the paint.

"You know what I think?" Hannah asked, eventually.

"What?"

"My dad would totally act like that."

I thought about that for a few seconds. Percy? The gentle man who helped me? I'm not sure. I always got the feeling that he was hiding something – what it is I'm not quite sure. Maybe he could. He does seem a bit more protective then Annabeth.

"Yeah," I agreed, "I guess I can see that."

Hannah just nodded.  


* * *

_10 Years Old, December 14th_

When Hannah turned seven, she was forced by her parents to take an instrument, and she chose the piano (after Chase's disastrous experience with the trombone, she decided against brass and she didn't like the sound of string instruments). She'd been having recitals ever since, but with her perfectionist attitude about everything, she'd never let me see her play at her recital until this year.

Annabeth had a very important call to make during the time of the recital, so she wasn't able to go. Chase, being himself, didn't want to come. And Zoe, who enjoyed copying her sister, was also performing. This left me alone to sit next to Percy throughout the entire thing.

It started out okay – absolutely silent. But then, he felt the need to begin a conversation.

"So Carla," he began, "Are you excited for Christmas in a few weeks?"

"Yeah," I said. My family had bought our tiny Christmas tree yesterday, and with the tree came the spirit.

"Excited for presents?" He guessed, his usual goofy grin on his face.

"Yeah," I said, giggling slightly, "Do you get presents too, Percy?"

He burst out laughing, making me feel quite uncomfortable, "A few," he said, "Annabeth always gets me two or three, Hannah and Chase tend to get me small things – like an ornament that reminds them of me, and Zoe just gives me a homemade card."

It seemed so different from my family, where I thought about my parents, who gave each other as many presents as they gave me. It just didn't seem fair that Percy and Annabeth didn't get nearly many presents as I knew the kids did (Hannah always told me about the boat load of presents she received each year).

"…That's nice?" I said – even though I meant it as a statement, it came off more as a question.

"I've had Christmas in so many different places…" he mumbled, more to himself then me.

"Really?" I asked, "Like where?"

"Oh…uh," he said, "Just all over."

I nodded, not quite sure what to say to that.

"So," he said. I could tell that he felt the need to make conversation with me, even though he absolutely nothing to say, "Have you been liking 5th grade so far?"

"Yeah, I guess," I said, "Mrs. Levin is really nice. It's too bad that I'm not in Hannah's homeroom, though."

"Yeah, she complained about that all the time when she first got her class list." Percy said, twiddling his thumbs.

"We both did."

"You guys really are best friends," he said, "Aren't you?"

"Yeah," I answered, a tiny bit peeved that he needed to ask, "Why?"

His shocked expression told me that he wasn't expecting the question at the end of it, "It's just that I didn't make my best friends until I was twelve."

"Your best friend was Annabeth, right?" I asked. Normally I'm way too nervous to talk to people, but for one reason or another I was able to talk to Percy. It was awkward, but I was still able to speak – which is a huge improvement.

"Yeah," he said, "And my friend Grover too."

"Is that the one with the red hair and with the - ?" I patted my own leg, trying not to say the word aloud. It was true though, Grover had even hairier legs than my daddy.

He instantly looked confused, "What?" He asked, "Oh yeah, that's him."

"He seemed nice from the two seconds that I spoke to him," I said, giving a small smile.

He was about to reply when the lights shut off and the recital began.

* * *

_December 25__th__, Age 11_

I was sitting in my room searching the Internet when the phone began to ring. My mom wasn't in the house and my dad appeared to be glued to his laptop, so I decided to answer the phone myself.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Cars! Good," It was Hannah, and she seemed to be excited about something, "Guess who's coming over?"

"Jake T. Austin?" I asked. The two of us have had crushes on him ever since we can remember. When Annabeth found out, she laughed and told us that she remembered when he was a kid.

"I wish," Hannah said, "But this is almost as good."

"Who?"

"Uncle Nico!"

"Really?" I'd always heard stories about when Uncle Nico visited. According to Hannah he was a ton of fun, and loved screwing with the parents as much as we did. I'd been eager to meet him for years, but his visits were rare and I always managed to be busy during them.

"Yeah, he's going to be here in an hour." Hannah said.

"I'll be over in 5 minutes." I said, as I began to shove some of my things into a bag.

"Good," she said, before hanging up the phone.

"Dad?" I called.

"What?"

"I'm going over to the Jackson's!"

"On Christmas Eve?" he asked, looking up from his laptop.

"Yeah, they're uncle's visiting!"

"And they want you there?"

"Yes!"

"Have fun!" he called, but I was already out the door.

I took the elevator down and was there in a few minutes. I burst through the door, panting. The nice thing about being friends with the Jackson's for 6 years is that when I burst through the door, it's nothing to be shocked about.

"Good," Hannah said, running up to me, "You're here."

" Yup." I said, following her.

"Chase?" Hannah called, "Cars's here!"

I heard a "Good!" come from the other side of the apartment.

"Since when is Chase glad that I'm here?" I asked, genuinely surprised, "Let alone, when do you to talk to each other this much?"

"We've been planning." Hannah said.

"Planning what?"

"Schemes," Chase said, by this time we'd reached their room, "We've been coming up with ideas to suggest to Uncle Nico. Pranks."

"Oh," I said, "Who are we going to prank?"

"The entire building," the two of them said simultaneously, the same devilish grin on their faces.

"Okay…" I said, thinking of my poor unsuspecting parents.

"Nothing _too _harmful," Hannah assured.

"Just something big." Chase said.

"Does your uncle Nico know this?" I asked.

"Not yet," Hannah said, "But we always pull pranks with Uncle Nico. He's the mastermind behind all of them, though."

For the next forty-five minutes I helped them come up with possible pranks.

Eventually, the doorbell rang and in came Nico – who instantly got hugged by the entire family.

"And this," Hannah said, finally getting to me, "Is my best friend Carla."

"Hey, Carla," Nico said, smiling, "I'd give a warmer welcome, but Zoe is currently preoccupying my hands." Zoe had jumped into his arms the second he got here, thus making it harder for him to do everything else.

"Nico, Nico!" Chase said, grabbing his free arm, "Let's go!"

"Go where?" Nico asked.

"To our room!" Hannah answered.

"Okay…" Nico said. He put Zoe down on the floor, and followed two inches behind me.

"We have a plan." Chase said, once we reached the room and has safely closed the doors.

"Good," Nico said, "Let me hear it."

"We were thinking that we could shut the entire building's water off," Chase said, "If you go to the basement, there are some levers that you can fool around with to turn off all the water."

Nico remained silent for a few minutes, seeming to be thinking it over, "That could work, and all we'll have to do now is to just have to work out the kinks. Good planning, you guys."

"Carla actually came up with the plan," Hannah said, giving me a large slap on the back, "We were thinking about shutting off the building's power, but her idea is so much better. Isn't it?"

"Yeah," Nico said, his dark eyes glimmering. He was dressed in all black, and the only thing that wasn't was the blue skull on his shirt. However, he looked happy, which seemed to contradict his wardrobe, "Good idea, Carla."

"Thanks," I said, quietly. I felt my cheeks instantly get warm and bright red. Nico was so talked about among the household, that it felt like a celebrity had just complimented me.

"Okay," Chase said, picking up the papers on his bed, "Let's go to the basement."

"Not yet, we have to wait until after dinner." Nico replied, walking towards the door.

"Why?" the three of us said simultaneously.

"Because," he began, "I'm hungry, and without water there won't be any dinner."

None of us could argue that.

***

I'd only been to the basement once before, and I sure didn't like that one trip. It was very steamy and hot down there, and it smelled heavily of detergent and oranges.

"There," Chase said, pointing to the other side of the room, "That's where all the levers are."

Hannah was the first to run over, and began to look at the worn out labels on each lever.

"I think that this one changes the temperature of the water," she said, pointing to a large dial, "Which means that this one, here, must be to shut off the water." She was holding onto a large bright blue lever that said "WATER – DO NOT TOUCH WITHOUT PERMISSION" on it.

"Are you sure that we should do this?" I asked, just as Nico and Hannah were going to pull down on it, "What if we get in trouble?"

"Oh, we will," Nico, said, a maniac smile on his face, "But that's the fun of it." Normally, I'm not one to break rules, but on some level I trusted Nico to cover us up.

"On three!" Chase announced, "…One, two, and three!" Nico and Hannah pulled down on the handle at once, and a rusty sound was heard.

Suddenly, half of the sound in the room stopped, "Good, now let's go back upstairs," Nico said, "Remember the plan, guys, I was teaching you how to do the Mentos in the Coke trick. Okay?"

"Yep."

When we got upstairs, everything seemed to be going as usual, and it didn't seem like people had noticed anything yet.

"You're back quickly," Annabeth said. She was standing near the sink, wine glass in hand.

"It's a really short trick," Nico said, covering for us, "But very affective."

"I'm sure that your father would love it," she said, rolling her eyes, "You should show it to him sometime."

"He's already seen it," Nico said, grinning, "We did it back at camp years and years ago. Remember the time when you walked in on us in Percy's cabin?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said, putting her empty glass into the sink, "And you guys were acting all strange. _That's_ what you were doing? I thought you were plotting to shadow travel into the Aphrodite cabin again."

"That too." Nico said. Aphrodite cabin? What type of camp has Greek Gods as cabin names?

"I'm assuming here that Percy didn't go in with you," Annabeth said, beginning to pile the plates in the sink.

"Don't worry, he didn't." Nico said, sitting next to us on the counter.

Annabeth turned the knobs to the sink, and as expected, the water didn't come out. Nico and Hannah began to snicker, why I tried to do my best to cover my small smile.

"The sink isn't-" Annabeth started, but was cut off by the loud raging waterfall that had begun in their house from the floor above.

"What's that?" I asked. The water was going straight from the floor above to the floor below. It was coming through the ceiling and it was leaving from the floor. The thing was, it never seemed to end.

"What did you four do?" Annabeth shrieked.

"We told you," Nico yelled, having to talk over the raging water from behind, "Just the thing with the Mentos!"

"PERCY!" Annabeth and Nico screamed. Sure, he was the man of the house, but what exactly could he do with this?

"Guys, what's that loud noise-" Percy started, only to see the water, "Oh. My. Gods. What happened?"

"We aren't sure!" Nico screamed, "It just began all of a sudden…"

Percy let out a large sigh, and then began to close his eyes and hold out his hands.

Suddenly, all the water stopped mid speed, and went all the way back up through the floor and the ceiling and everything became dry – including my soaked clothes.

"Phew," Annabeth said, going over to hug her husband, "Good job." No one else besides me seemed stunned about what Percy just did. Hannah and Chase were just grinning, while Annabeth, Nico and Percy looked relieved.

"What did you just do?" I asked quietly, but no one answered. I was too afraid and shocked to ask again, but I knew something was up. This wasn't an ordinary family, and I didn't know why. The family was too good to be ordinary, and the supernatural powers only enforced this.

This was the day that I decided that I thought the exciting Jackson family was better then my boring, peaceful Hart family.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading through part 1! I hope that you liked it!**

**I would love to give a quick shout out to my awesome friend, Abbie (WindowChild), for beta-ing this story for me! Thanks so much! **

**Reviews are very much appreciated, so please leave them! I greatly appreciate all feedback! **


	2. Part 2

**Thank you so much for all of the wonderful feedback I received for the first chapter! Your reviews mean so much to me and I'm very glad that you liked it!**

**Also, in this part you might notice that Carla seems much more outgoing. I made her this way, thinking that she'd come out of her shell more as she got older. **

**Please enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

_Age 12, June 12th_

"Why do you have to go?" I asked, throwing a pair of Hannah's socks into her large duffel. For the first time ever, Hannah was going to camp. It was going to be the first summer that we didn't spend together, and I wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

"I told you," Hannah said, shoving her iPod into a backpack, "My parents are making me. It's where they met or something, and they think it's important to send all of us there."

"I know…" I said, flopping down onto her bed, "It's just that, well – Oh! I have an idea! How about I ask my parents if I can come to camp with you!"

She smiled a small, exasperated smile, "I wish you could, but this camp is very exclusive." She left the room and grabbed some cosmetics, and then came back into the room, "It's only 7 weeks, Cars. I'll be back before you know it."

"Yeah, I know," I said, lying back on her bed, "But what am I going to without you for seven weeks? Life's going to be… so boring."

"Oh, you'll figure something out," she said, zipping up the large duffle, "You can hang out with Olivia, Tessa, or some of our other friends. You're far from alone, especially in this city."

"They're all at camp - day camp, too," I said.

"You're visiting your family for a two weeks," Hannah argued, "That'll be fun!"

"Really?" I asked, "Since when is spending two weeks in Georgia with a bunch of crazy people a lot of fun? It's been bad enough ever since Grandma has been living with us, and this is her plus everyone else." As my grandma got older, she began to slowly lose her memory and therefore wasn't stable enough to live on her own. Since she refused to go live in a place for people like her, so she moved in with us about six months ago. These past six months have been a living nightmare.

"They're not _that _bad, some of them are just a little…"

"Insane?"

"That's not quite the word that I was going to choose."

We sat in absolute silence for a few moments. I was trying to process everything that was going on. Hannah was going away to camp and I was going to be left behind to hang out with my impossible family. In other words, my summer was going to absolutely suck.

"Well," I said after a long, awkward silence, "At least I can write to you at camp, right?"

Hannah looked down, her expression melting into one of sympathy, "Well, it's just that-"

"I can't even write? Why not?" I asked, clenching my fists.

"They don't quite – Well, they just," Hannah tried to explain, "You know what? Whenever you want a letter mailed, just give it to one of my parents. They'll make sure that it gets to me, okay?"

"Yeah," I said, giving her a large hug, "I'll miss you!"

"I'll miss you too," Hannah said returning the hug, "And I'll write to you too. I promise."

"Good."

Then, there was a large knock on the door, "Girls?" It was Hannah's father, Percy, at the door.

We both looked over at him. He had clearly just come home from work – he was dressed in a black suit and had a turquoise tie on.

"Yeah, Dad?" Hannah asked, walking over to where he was standing.

"It's time for Carla to go," he said, running a hand through his onyx hair, "Her mom just called. Apparently she wants you home so that you can help your grandmother with packing for your trip."

"You're kidding me!" I said, walking over to them, "We're not leaving for a week and half and she's already packing?"

Percy tried to hide back laughter, while Hannah gave me a sympathetic smile, "That's not the worst of it. In two days, she'll decide she needs something out of there and unpack _everything_, and then make me pack it up again!" I screamed – a rare thing for me to do.

"I'm sure -" Percy started, patting me slightly on the back.

"That my situation sucks," I interrupted, "Yeah."

"That wasn't quite-" He began.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to leave," I said, walking over to Hannah and giving her one last hug, "Bye Hannah, have a great time at camp. Bye, Percy, thanks for having me over."

"Bye!" The two of them said.

I turned around and walked out as calmly as I could when I felt that the world was against me. I felt like I could punch someone, which was a feeling that I hadn't felt that many times before. I wasn't quite sure how to handle this feeling, which may be why I reacted the way I did when I got into my house.

"Hi, Honey," my mom said, walking out from the kitchen into the living room where my grandma was seated reading the newspaper.

"A-" I began.

"Did you see this, Jenny?" my grandma interrupted, "Apparently kids all over are beginning to read books. Isn't it wonderful?"

"Would you just shut up? Please, just for once?" I screamed.

"Excuse me?" My grandma asked, shocked at my behavior.

"Yeah, excuse you," I said, "You and your rude behavior!"

"Carla! What has gotten into you?" my mom asked, running over to me.

"Nothing!" I screamed, and stormed into my room and slammed the door shut.

I collapsed onto the floor and began to cry. I wasn't quite sure what I was upset about most. Was it about Hannah going to camp and leaving me behind? Was it my grandma and her annoying habits? Was it the prospect of me visiting my family?

"Jenny, I'm not so sure about that attitude of hers," I heard my grandma say from the other room, "Since when has she gotten like this?"

"I don't know, she never acts like this," my mom said, pausing for a second, "I guess it's just pre-teenage angst."

"In my day, this behavior wouldn't be tolerated."

That was the last thing I heard, because the music from my stereo blocked out the rest of their conversation.

* * *

_Age 13, May 23__rd_

"Binoculars." Hannah said, outstretching her arm.

We were on Hannah's bed, spying on Will Brown – a cute boy who was in our grade at school. He lived in the building over, and as Hannah and I got older we found it fun to spy on him from Hannah's room (she had a perfect view of his bedroom window).

"Here," I said, taking them off of my neck and handing them over.

Hannah fiddled with them for a few minutes until she said, "Got him!"

"Really? Lemme see!" I said, tying my thick, dark straight hair back into a ponytail.

"Look, 4th window up," she said, pointing. I looked to where she was pointing, and sure enough, there he was playing with a soccer ball.

"I think he might break something with that soccer ball," I said, watching the ball soar across the room.

"I didn't see a soccer ball," Hannah said, grabbing the binoculars from my hand, "Oh look, you're right. Ooh, he-"

Suddenly, she just stopped talking. It looked like she froze in time or something, because she didn't move a muscle. Suddenly, she dropped the binoculars and ran across the room to her dresser.

"I knew I should've listened to mom and dad about carrying it around-," she muttered to herself, flinging things onto the floor.

"Han, what's going on?" I said, picking through them.

Then, I saw _it_. It had many heads and a serpent looking body – except that it had legs and feet. It looked familiar, too, like something from my history textbooks. It was standing in the middle of the street, blocking traffic.

So, I did what any thirteen-year-old girl would do in my situation, I screamed – so loudly, that my throat was sour for weeks.

"What?" Hannah asked, stopping her frantic searching for a few seconds.

"T-That!" I said, pointing.

"You can see it?" Hannah asked. She looked utterly confused, and was still staring at me when he dad _and _mom walked into the room.

"What's going on?" Annabeth asked.

There was a long silence, until Hannah finally spoke, "Carla can see the Hydra that's outside."

"Hydra?" I asked, quietly, "That's what _that _is?"

Annabeth walked over to the bedroom window, "Yup, that's the Hydra alright."

"Isn't that only a myth?" I asked, "Hydras and stuff are only myths, right?"

"I'll explain later," Hannah said, stepping out the window onto the fire escape.

"What-" I began, but by this time Percy and Annabeth had followed their daughter out the window and onto the fire escape.

Within a matter of few seconds, all three of them had weapons and were fighting the monster. I remained on the fire escape; too nervous to go down and fight.

For a while it looked like they were winning, but since they couldn't slice any of the heads off it became very difficult for them. None of them were thoroughly succeeding in distracting the beast.

That's when I got an idea. In the corner of the room, I saw a few baseballs and Chase's bat. I ran back into the room and grabbed them, and returned to my previous spot on the fire escape.

I took my first swing at the ball, but with my aim, it only hit the other building and rolled on the ground. The second one was a little better – it hit the Hydra's tail.

Hannah noticed me, and gave me thumbs up before she had to dodge an attack.

After I went through the rest of the balls, two of them hit one of the Hydra's heads. The rest of them had missed the Hydra entirely (one even hit the top of a car). As a last hope, I tossed the bat straight at it. It knocked a couple of the heads, which caused the perfect distraction for Percy, who plunged his sword into the side of the Hydra.

Hannah ran up to me, and gave me a large hug, "Carla! You helped!"

"What- who- uh," I said, trying get words out. I was not only completely confused, but terrified as well. Out of my thirteen years of living, not one single person had ever told me about mythological monsters coming into my life, and Hannah seemed to know all about it.

"Come inside," Percy said, helping Hannah and I through the window, "And I'll explain everything."

***

"Let me get this straight," I said, biting down on a grape, "You guys are decedents of Greek Gods?"

"Yeah," Percy said, taking a bite of what they referred to as 'ambrosia', "I know that's a bit hard to understand, but-"

"Earlier," I said, interrupting him, "You said that mortals couldn't see all of these things. How come I can? I'm not one of you, right?" Even though my comment sounded negative, I secretly wished that I were one too. That's what made the Jackson's so special, and now that I knew exactly what it was, I wanted in.

If this was why Hannah could breathe underwater and why Percy can fix the plumbing without a problem, this must be the best thing or ever. So what if monsters are constantly chasing you? It's only a small price to pay.

"No, you're lucky," Annabeth said, patting me on the back. Was she crazy? How was I _lucky _that I wasn't one. That's crazy, "You're what we call 'a clear seeing mortal.' Even though you're a mortal, you can see through the mist that veils most mortals from seeing the truth. For example, what just went on back there most mortals probably thought that it was some huge car accident."

"Oh," I said, trying to process everything. It seemed so… well, it seemed to fit. No wonder the Jackson's were so strange, they had a huge secret!

"It's so cool that you know, now!" Hannah exclaimed, putting down her own small piece of 'ambrosia', "That was the only secret that I've ever had to keep from you, and now you know! And now when I'm at camp I can Iris Message you!"

"You can what?" I asked.

"Iris Message. It's the system we Demi-gods use to contact people. Now that you know the secret, I can use it to talk to you!" Hannah said, throwing her arms around me in a hug.

"…Okay," I said.

"Let's go back and… continue what we were doing," Hannah said, winking.

"Sure," I said, following her back into her room.

"Oh my gods! He's _still _playing with that soccer ball."

"Gods?" I asked, "Oh right. I'm going to have to get used to that, aren't I?"

"You are."

* * *

_Age 13, October 13__th_

"It says, 'add one stick of butter'. See, Han?" I said, pointing to the cookbook that was resting on the counter. Out of absolute boredom, Hannah and I decided to bake cookies. Hannah wasn't much of a cook (one of the few things that the Jackson's _couldn't _do: cook), but agreed nonetheless. Well, she had to, because it was my turn to choose the activity.

"I told you, Cars, I can't cook!" Hannah said, handing me the large bag of flour.

"That may be," I said, shoveling a few cups out of the large paper bag, "But that doesn't mean that you can't _read_." Hannah merely made a face, and then returned to handing me ingredients.

"You're grandma's been silent for a while," Hannah noticed, after we successfully put the cookies into the oven.

"For once," I said, taking off my apron, "Grandma! Cookies will be done in twenty minutes!"

There was complete silence, "That's odd."

"Maybe she didn't here you." Hannah suggested.

"My grandma is many things, but deaf is not one of them," I asked, opening the door to her room.

There she was, lying on the floor, eyes closed, "Oh. My. Gods." I said, running over to her, "Grandma? Grandma? Wake up, Grandma! " I began to shake her, and when she didn't wake up, I began to cry.

"I'm going to go call your parents," Hannah said, running out of the room. She returned a few minutes later, saying that they'd be here soon.

"I think she's dead," I said, hugging Hannah, "She's really gone."

"It'll be okay, Cars."

"Do you think that she'll go to – uh, what do you call it?" I asked, chuckling slightly among tears.

"Elysium?" Hannah suggested. I nodded, "I'm sure she will. You're grandma was great."

As soon as Hannah told me this, I began to feel myself calm down. Something about knowing where she was going comforted me.

I wonder how I would have reacted if I hadn't known the secret about the gods. Would I have been more upset? Or would I have acted the same way. How would Hannah have acted – knowing where she was going while I didn't?

_November 23__rd__, Age 14_

"Sorry, Cars, it'll only be ten more minutes, promise." Hannah said, not even looking at me once. On the 5th day of school, Will Brown finally got the nerve to finally ask Hannah out – which, of course, she agreed. Ever since then, she'd been spending more time at the window then reading (which was a first for her, believe me).

"That's what you said to me an hour ago," I said, rolling my eyes.

"I know, I'm so-" she stopped herself, and returned to giving her full attention to the window.

After five more minutes of window conversation, Hannah grabbed a few pieces of paper from her printer and began writing down numbers.

"What are you doing now?" I asked, sitting up. Will was still at the window making gestures to Hannah, who was flashing him numbers.

"Giving them your cell number," she answered.

"Why?" I asked, "Wait, _them_?"

"Yeah, _them_," Hannah said, still not bothering to look at me, "Carter is over there as well."

"Oh," I said. Carter was Will's best friend (who, like Will, wasn't bad looking either). During our spying sessions, we often saw Carter there too. I shouldn't have been so shocked that Will had Carter over. "Do you know why they want my number?"

"No clue," she said, blowing kisses to the window.

A few minutes later, I felt my phone in my pocket jiggle, alerting me that I had a text.

_Hey Carla, Its Carter. R u bored too? _

I smiled. This is why they – _Carter, _needed my number. Carter was getting ignored and I was his solution for boredom. Not that I'm complaining, or anything. I'm utterly bored too.

_Hey. And yes, I am. _

A minute later, I got another reply.

_We should ditch them. _

I laughed out loud. "What?" Hannah asked.

"Nothing," I said, texting back to Carter at the same time.

_Lol, that's mean thou. _

He was speedy, because he replied in less than a minute this time.

_They're not being mean? _

I thought about it. It's true; they had been ignoring both of us for over an hour and half. And I did want to get out of the stuffy apartment.

_Fine. Where do u want to go?_

"Hannah?" I said, tapping her on the shoulder.

"What?" she asked, barely glancing towards me. She was still very distracted by the window. In the background, I saw Carter texting – probably to me.

"I'm leaving." I announced, throwing on my light blue sweatshirt. I felt my phone shake in my jeans pocket.

_Lets go 2 Starbucks. Meet u there. :) _

"So soon?" Hannah asked, looking concerned, "I'm so sorry that I've been ignoring you, it's just that-"

"No worries," I said, while texting back a reply, "Carter and I just are bored and we decided to go to Starbucks. I'll come back after, I promise."

_K. C u soon. _

"I feel bad."

"Don't." I said, "Look, now you can talk to Will all you want to without feeling bad! I'll be back soon."

"…Okay, see you soon, then," she said as I shut the bedroom door behind me.

***

"Beat you," Carter said as soon as he spotted me walking into Starbucks.

"I didn't know that this was a race," I said, digging in my bag for my wallet.

"It wasn't," he said, smiling, "I just thought that it'd be a fun thing to say when you came in."

"Nice," I said, looking up at the menu board, "So, what are you going to get?"

"Java Chip Frappuccino," he said, licking his lips, "You?"

"Green Tea Frappuccino," I said. Normally, I'd get caramel, but I was in more a green tea mood – I'm not quite sure why.

"I guess that means we're Frappuccino buddies!" he announced.

"Yes, because we're the only ones in this entire world who like Frappuccinos," I said, sarcastically.

"Very funny," he said, moving up in line.

"I try to be."

He and I both ordered, and then took our drinks to a small table by the window. I always like sitting by the window, it's always fun to watch the different people walk by.

"I wonder what they're doing now." I asked, taking a large sip of my drink.

"I have absolutely no clue," he said, "But do you really care?"

"No, it's probably creepy, anyways," I agreed.

The thought of watching Hannah and Will profess the love they share through a window caused me to burst out laughing.

"What?" he asked. He had this innocent, worried expression on his face that only ended up making me to laugh even harder.

"It's just the idea of-" I began, gripping my stomach. But I stopped myself when I saw Percy walk into the Starbucks. He noticed me almost immediately, and gave a small wave while he walked right over to us.

"Hey, Carla. Oh hi, Carter," Percy said, smiling slightly awkwardly, "Carla, I thought you were at our house helping Hannah make cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow."

"I was," I said, trying to suppress my laughter, "But Hannah got a bit distracted before we began." I didn't quite want to tell her _father _about Will – even though I was positive that Percy knew about him, it still felt like betrayal.

"With Will?" Percy suggested.

"Yeah," Carter answered, "How'd you know, Mr. Jackson?"

"Feel free to call me Percy," Percy said, straightening his blue and green striped tie, "But Chase has been complaining about how he can't sleep in because Hannah's always by the window screaming to Will."

"It makes sense that Chase would be mad. Hey, are you heading back to you house after this, Percy?" I asked, before taking a huge gulp of my drink.

"Yeah," he answered, "I guess I should go and make the cranberry sauce. I really don't want Annabeth to get upset."

"It would probably be wise," I said, distinctly remembering Annabeth's temper. A couple of years ago, Percy and Annabeth got into a huge fight about something (I believe that it had to do with parents – or something), and they didn't talk to each other for three days, or so. It completely freaked Hannah and Zoe out.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later, Carla," He said, turning around, "Nice seeing you, Carter." He walked over to counter, and ordered what looked like a coffee.

"You're good friends with Hannah's dad?" Carter asked once Percy was out of earshot.

"Kind of. I've known him for a long time," I said, thinking back on all of the times I'd been with Percy Jackson – good and bad, "He's a nice guy."

"Oh," Carter said. We then sat in silence for a while, staring out the window – watching the people go by. Eventually, he spoke up, "Do you know what time it is?"

I looked down at my cell phone, "3:30, why?"

His eyes opened wide, "I have to leave," Carter said, standing up, "I've got to get home before my mom does. I was supposed to pick up pie on my way home, anyway."

"I see," I said, trying my best to not sound disappointed. I wasn't exactly looking forward to go spend a few more hours by the window with Hannah.

He began to walk out, and then suddenly turned around, "Carla?"

"Hmm?"

"Want to do this again, sometime?" he asked, "Except, maybe a little more… planned?"

"Sure," I said, grinning widely. I have a date with Carter! Am I in Olympus or something? He leaned looked around nervously, and then leaned in and gave me a quick peck on the lips. Before waiting for a response from me, he ran out.

I stood still, feeling my cheeks begin to burn. I probably looked like a grinning tomato. Or, that's what I figured what I looked like when I saw Percy wink at me on his way out.

* * *

_April 9th, Age 15_

I opened the door to the Jackson's house, and walked inside. Hannah and I agreed to meet here before going to a movie.

"Hannah?" I screamed to the empty living room.

"Oh, Carla! It's you," Annabeth said. She walked out of her office and into the living room, holding her _Black Berry_.

"Yeah," I said, "It's me."

"Hannah's not back yet," Annabeth explained, "She's across the street with Will. She should be back any minute, though."

"Okay," I said, smiling. Hannah had a tendency to be running late to things, and when she was with her boyfriend, she was always later then ever.

"Can I get you something to drink while you wait?" Annabeth asked, not even looking up from her cell phone. I wasn't shocked, though. Most of the time I saw her, she was checking emails. As Hannah always says, she's a bit of a 'workaholic'.

"Uh, sure." I said, sitting down on a stool.

She put her phone down on the counter and walked over to the fridge. She dug around in there for a few minutes before she said, "We really need to go to the market so we don't have all too much left. We have orange juice, a little bit of apple juice, seltzer, milk…"

"Water. If that's okay," I answered.

"Of course," she said, tossing ice cubes into an empty glass, "Here you go."

"Thank you," I said, taking a sip of water.

"No problem, Carla," she said, smiling, "So, what are you guys planning to do this evening?"

"See a movie," I replied, taking another gulp, "There's this movie that I really want to see, so…"

"When does it start?" she asked, looking down at her watch.

"7:15."

"Well, it's 6:30 now, so you guys should probably head out soon. I'll go and call Hannah."

"Oh, you don't need to do that," I said, stopping her, "She knows what time it starts, I'm sure she'll be back soon."

"I hope," Annabeth said, "Ever since she's been dating this guy she's becoming later and more like her father."

I couldn't help but chuckle at the last comment, "Speaking of her father," Annabeth, continued, "Where is he? He was supposed to be back with Zoe twenty minutes ago."

As if on cue, the door opened and in came Zoe and Percy.

"But _Dad_," Zoe whined, "Oh hey, Carla," she said, noticing me. Of all the Jackson children I knew Zoe the least well, but as Chase got older and was home less and less I began to see Zoe more often.

"Hi." I said, giving a small wave.

"So, what's your excuse this time, Percy?" Annabeth said, crossing her arms.

"Zoe wanted to get ice cream because she said that she didn't eat lunch, so I agreed?" Percy said, taking off his coat.

"Then you should have taken her somewhere that she get something that isn't sugar to eat. We're going to eat dinner in a half an hour." Annabeth said.

"Don't worry, Mom," Zoe said, collapsing on to the couch, "I'm still starving. Plus, I got strawberry ice cream, so it's like I ate fruit!"

"You sound just like your father." Annabeth remarked.

"Yeah, but she looks like her mother" Percy commented, sitting next to his daughter on the couch. It's true, though, Zoe did look more like her mother than Chase and Hannah did with either parent. Zoe had her mother's hair and eyes, but she acted more like her father then anyone else did.

After a few minutes, the Jackson family migrated into different rooms and left me alone in the living room. Zoe offered to wait with me, but her mom made her go finish her homework before I could answer. Annabeth was very strict that the kids finish their homework on Saturday instead of on Sunday.

Shortly afterwards, I heard some sounds from right outside the front door. Figuring that it was Hannah, I went over to open the door. Instead, it was none other than Chase, who had his mouth glued to another girl.

"Uh, hi, sorry," I said, about to close the door.

"Chase!" Zoe screamed, walking out of her room and over to us.

"Zoe." Chase said.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, until Chase said, "Don't tell mom and dad, alright?"

"Too late," Percy said, walking into the living room, "So, who's this, Chase?"

"Uh… this is-" Chase began, but got cut off by Hannah, who was entering the apartment.

"Hi Chase, hi Emma," Hannah walked into the apartment, and spotted me in the cluster of people in front of the doorway, "Good, Cars, you're here. Let's go, shall we?"

"Yup," I answered, and followed her out the door.

"Later Chase, bye Emma, night Zo, see you later, Dad," Hannah said. I just gave a quick wave of goodbye and followed Hannah into the elevator.

"So, what was going on in there?" Hannah asked, once the elevator doors were shutting.

"Long story."

* * *

_September 15__th__, Age 15_

"Can I trade you two railroads and five hundred dollars for New York Avenue? Please?" Carter asked, giving me a slight puppy-dog face. He and I were playing monopoly, because he said that he hadn't played monopoly in years and I was really in the mood to play. After all, it is my favorite board game.

"Nope," I said, shaking my head, "Why would I want to give you a monopoly?"

"Because I'm your boyfriend and if I become rich then I'll take you out to a really, really nice dinner?" he suggested.

"But you're taking money from your girlfriend. Therefore, your girlfriend is paying for said nice dinner," I said.

"What if I throw a kiss into the deal?" he asked.

"But I kiss you all the time," I explained, "That's nothing special."

"Kissing me isn't special?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "Well, if you think _that_…"

"No, that's not what I meant!" I threw my arms around him, "Maybe we should stop playing. It's getting too competitive."

"Fine by me," he said, kissing me. It was definitely a great kiss, probably because he was trying to redeem himself because I called his kisses 'not special'. _Men_… they're always trying to prove themselves.

We began to get into a bit of an intense make out session when I heard my bedroom door open. In case it was my parents, I jumped across the room on instinct. Instead, it was just Hannah.

"Oh, sorry…" she said, about to turn around. Before she did, I noticed that her face was bright red and it looked like she had been crying.

"No, don't be sorry," I said, getting up and walking over to her, "Is everything okay?"

"Uh, it's-" she began, shooting a glare over at Carter.

"I think that it's time for me to leave," Carter said, standing up, "See you later, Carla. Bye Hannah," He gave me a quick kiss, and then left.

"So, what's wrong, Han?" I asked, sitting down on my bed, "You don't look good."

"Will and I-" she sobbed, "Will and I b-broke u-up."

"Aw, Han," I said, embracing her in a hug, "It'll be alright."

"It's all my fault," she dabbled her eyes with a tissue from my desk, "I told him that I was tired of him complaining, and then he and I got into a fight."

"That isn't your fault," I soothed, "If he got mad at you because of that, then you weren't meant for each other."

"But-"

"Will was stupid to break up with you," I said, still hugging her, "If he couldn't see how great of a girl you are, then he doesn't deserve you." I know, a bit of a cliché saying, but it always seems to work.

"I guess you're right," she said. Her tears were beginning to slow down. Hannah was the type to freak out and cry over something, and then get over it two minutes later.

"How about we go somewhere?" I suggested, "Somewhere fun!"

"Where?" she asked, wiping her eyes.

"The pool. Let's go to the pool." Hannah always loves the pool (with good reason), and I never want to go (after my little incident from when I was little).

"_Really_?" Hannah asked, incredulously, "_You _want to go?"

"Sure, why not," I said.

"And you promise to go in?"

I sighed, "Yes, I do,"

"Okay, good!" Hannah said, grinning widely, "Let's go! Let me go and get my stuff!"

It's a marvel how fast Hannah cheers up. I guess it's good for me; it makes my job as Best Friend easy. Well, not easy exactly, but easier.

* * *

_August 23__rd__, Age 16_

"Can you believe it?" Hannah asked, "I'm finally free! It's all mine!" She began to skip around her room, and then collapsed onto Chase's absolutely empty bed.

"I can," I said, grinning for Hannah's sake. Chase was leaving to college in five minutes, and that meant that Hannah finally got the room to herself. While I was glad for Hannah, I was almost going to miss Chase. Even though during the past few years we've barely seen him, the fact that he was here was always nice.

"You should be thrilled!" Hannah exclaimed, taking my hands and shaking them, "Now whenever you sleepover, you can just have Chase's bed. We don't have to kick him out anymore!" She did have a point there.

"True," I said, jumping onto Chases bed – _my _bed, "It will be nice not to have to not get into a fight with him every time I sleepover."

"Uh huh," Hannah said, "And now there will be _some _ice cream left in the house, now that _he's _gone."

"What's good that I'm gone?" Chase asked, walking into the room.

"Food will be in the fridge," Hannah explained, jumping onto her brother's bed for grand effect, "For _once_."

"You whine too much," Chase said, "It'll be nice to get away from you, Han. Of course I'll miss you, Cars, though."

"Thanks, Chase, that's… nice of you?" I said. I knew on some level that he was just saying that as a joke, but some small part of me wanted that to be true -that he would actually miss me.

"Well, I'm not going to be missing you, either," she said, giving her brother a sock in the arm.

"You might now," Chase began, "But Zo sure is. She was giving me all these hugs and telling me how much she was going to miss me and how I was her favorite brother."

"Oh course she said that you're her favorite brother," Hannah said, rolling her eyes, "You're her only brother, Chase."

"That sneaky-"

"Chase?" Annabeth called from the other room, "It's time to go!"

"Bye guys, see you at Christmas!" he said, pulling both of us into a weird hug. I wasn't expecting to be pulled into the hug, but then again, Chase and I have known each other for over ten years.

"Bye!" Hannah and I said simultaneously, waving to him.

"Bye Chase!" I heard Zoe call from her room.

"Boy, that girl is sneaky," she whispered, glaring over at her little sister who was waving sweetly.

"Yeah, she is."

* * *

_September 19__th__, Age 18_

"So," Hannah said, "How are things going there?"

"Fine," I answered, putting down my book, "Although, my economics professor is a complete bore."

"That's true," my roommate, Millie, said. She was sitting on her bed, reading some sort of magazine.

About one month of college had gone by, and Hannah and I had made a plan to make sure that we called each other at least every other day. So far, we haven't missed one call yet. She was off at Princeton, while I was across the country in California at Berkeley.

"Well, he can't be much worse then my History Professor, he's pretty snooze worthy."

"I guess we were bound to have at least one boring teacher, right?" I said, leaning back on my bed.

"Yeah," Hannah said. I heard some chattering in the background, "So, any guys?"

"No, none yet," I said, "I did go on one date, though. The guy wasn't great."

"No Carter, eh?" Carter and I broke up a year and half ago or so, and I've never dated anyone else after that. I think it's because I haven't found anyone else that I like as much. Hannah thinks that my expectations are too high, and that it's hard for a poor guy to measure up to my standards when I'm so used to Carter. She's right, though, Carter was a pretty amazing boyfriend.

"Nope," I said, "He really wasn't a Carter."

"What's a Carter?" Millie asked, looking up from her magazine.

"I'll explain later," I told her, before turning my attention back to Hannah, "What about you? Any guys?"

"Kind of," Hannah said, "There's this one guy that I made out with while doing laundry, but I haven't seen him around since."

"When was this?" I asked.

"Two days or so ago. It was after our last phone call, though. That night, actually."

"Cool, was he cute?"

"Pretty cute – especially his hair."

"You always care about their hair, don't you?"

"I do."

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I could hear here breathing through the phone, and it seemed weird. It felt completely weird to be this far away from Hannah. It just didn't seem quite right.

"Well, I've got to go," she said, after a while, "It's pretty late here, and I want to wake up early enough for class."

I looked up at the clock. It was 9:30 here, which meant that it was 12:30 there. This was pretty late for Hannah (she always liked to go to bed early, for one reason or another).

"Oh course," I said, "Well, bye then! I'll talk to you in two days!"

"Totally!" she said, "I miss you, Cars."

"Miss you too, Han. I'll see you at Christmas!"

I heard the connection break. The conversation with my best friend was now officially over.

* * *

_December 19__th__, Age 18_

I knocked on the door of the Jackson's apartment.

"One minute!" someone called, rushing to the door. Three seconds later, it swung open and revealed none other then Chase, "Oh hey, Cars. Hannah's not actually here right now, she went off somewhere with her boyfriend."

"Oh, okay," I said, beginning to turn around, "I'll just –"

"Stay," he said, grabbing my shoulder, "I haven't talked to you in months. We need to catch up."

"Sure," I said, following him inside the house. It was warm, and the Christmas tree in the middle of the living room made the entire house smell great. I suddenly found myself in the mood for a gingerbread cookie.

"So, how's it feel to be a freshman in college?" he asked, once we sitting down on the couch.

I thought about it for a second, "Busy."

He began to laugh, "Yeah, it was the same for me."

"So, how what's it like to be a junior in college?"

"Stressful."

"I'm so looking forward to it, now."

"You should be," he said, smiling. Something about his smile made me want to melt. It seemed so… warm.

"So, any girlfriends currently?" I asked before I thought about just what I was saying.

"Nah," he said, running a hand through his shaggy black hair, "Not this year, so far. You?"

"Any girlfriends?" I joked, "Nah, unless you count that one night stand back in October…"

"You know what I mean."

"The answer is still the same, minus the one night stand thing."

"No guy is good enough for you?" he asked, putting his arm on my shoulder.

"Well, I haven't met all of them _yet_."

"What about me?" he had a goofy grin on his face. Is it just me, or is Chase Jackson flirting with _me_? Not that I mind or anything… I think.

"What about you?" I asked, innocently. Sure, I'll play along with this game.

"Am I good enough for you?"

"I've never really thought about that," I replied, honestly.

"Is that a yes?" he asked. His face was now inches from mine, and I could feel his breath on the tip of my nose.

"Maybe," I said. He then closed the gap between us, and his lips were on mine.

The first thought that came to mind was how _good _it felt. Something about the soft feeling of his lips against mine made me just want to melt in complete satisfaction.

Then, the smart part of my brain remembered that this was Chase that I was kissing! Annoying Chase! Hannah's older brother, Chase. What am I doing?

"What am I doing?" I vocalized.

"Kissing me," he said, kissing the tip of my nose.

"But you're Chase!" I said, leaning back, "Hannah – my best friend's older _brother_!"

"That doesn't matter," he said, leaning into me, "This is between us, not Hannah."

"I guess… but-" I never got to finish what I was saying or that thought, because his lips touched mine and my mind turned into slush. I no longer thought about how this would affect Hannah, because this just felt _so _good – and right.

* * *

**I know that this is a bit of a cliffhanger, and I'm sorry. I'll try to update soon, I promise. **

**Once again, thanks so much to Abbie (WindowChild) for beta-ing this chapter for me! It means so much!**

**Thanks so much to everyone who read, and please review! Reviews are not only greatly appreciated, but will earn you virtual cookies from me! :) **


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